Ref (type)	Population	Outcome, Interventions	Results and statistical analysis	Effect size	Favours
Hospital return visits and/or (re-)admission rates
Systematic review	219 children (3 months–12 years) with moderate croup in an outpatient setting 2 RCTs in this analysis	Return visits and/or (re-)admissions 12/125 (10%) with oral dexamethasone 28/94 (30%) with oral prednisolone	RR 0.32 95% CI 0.17 to 0.60 P = 0.00045		Oral dexamethasone
RCT	87 children (1–8 years) with mild (42%) or moderate (58%) croup presenting in primary care	Hospital admission day 11 1/46 (2%) with oral dexamethasone (single dose) followed by 2 days of placebo 0/41 (0%) with oral prednisolone for 3 days	P = 0.0		Not significant
RCT	87 children (1–8 years) with mild (42%) or moderate (58%) croup presenting in primary care	Office or clinic visit day 11 0/46 (0%) with oral dexamethasone (single dose) followed by 2 days of placebo 3/41 (7%) with oral prednisolone for 3 days	P = 0.1		Not significant